


a very special handshake and other important routines

by IcebirdsMateForLife



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, dumb boys figuring out their feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 07:38:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13542768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcebirdsMateForLife/pseuds/IcebirdsMateForLife
Summary: In which Geno knows for a fact that Sid is the absolute best.





	a very special handshake and other important routines

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Remember me? I am still working on a number of other things that have all decided to be difficult, so I wrote this to get me unstuck. And I thought I'd share it, because it was fun to write, so here, have it! :)

“Me three years Superleague,” Geno says, and Sid laughs. It sounds like a goose honking. And he lets Geno go out onto the ice last.

Geno is happy, and once again pleasantly surprised by how nice Sid is. He knows it’s a big deal. He doesn’t quite understand how big a deal until he gets to know Sid a little better.

Hockey players are superstitious by nature and their routines don’t change for the most part, unless absolutely necessary. Geno tapes his stick from the toe up, his left skate must be sharpened first, and he goes out onto the ice last.

So does Sid. And he lets Geno have that spot without argument.

They create their own special handshake instead. It seems to be good enough for Sid as a substitute for an important old routine. Which, once Geno really thinks about it, is pretty amazing. But then, Sid is pretty amazing.

“You settling in okay?” Sid asks after practice the next day. Gonch translates it for Geno.

Geno pauses, tempted to give his answer to Gonch in Russian and have him tell Sid that he’s glad to be here and that everything is good, but it’s Sid, and he doesn’t think Sid minds him taking a while to work it out by himself. “Good,” he manages finally. “I...like.”

Sid smiles so widely at him, Geno thinks maybe he’ll try English a little more often. For Sid. Sid will be patient with him. He feels a lot less embarrassed about his halting English around Sid.

Geno makes an effort after that. To talk to Sid more, to be around him more. Because he’s always liked making friends and he has a feeling that Sid with his easy smile and funny laugh and kind heart is a very good friend to have. Every time Sid grins at him across the locker room, Geno feels a little less lonely. A little less like the weird new kid nobody quite knows what to make of yet.

All the guys are nice to him. And he hopes he’ll become friends with all of them. But Sid...it’s easy to trust him. He feels safe. He makes Geno feel comfortable and at ease. So Geno sticks close to him and Sid lets him.

“Dinner?” Sid asks after practice.

Geno nods. “Yes,” he says. “Okay.”

It’s become a bit of their thing, going out for dinner just the two of them. Geno thinks Sid has caught onto the fact that Geno talks more, and also more freely when they’re by themselves, and wants to give him the opportunity to practice his English.

Geno is pretty sure he has more than just a little crush on his new friend, but even if Sid is just being nice, just wanting to hang out, that’s okay, too. Geno didn’t come here for anything else, after all. He just wants to play hockey. 

And be with Sid all the time. But it looks like maybe he can have both.

“Let’s meet at seven,” Sid says after practice, and Geno smiles and nods eagerly. 

“Yes,” he says.

Sid slaps his shoulder and walks off.

Geno heads for the showers and thinks about what he wants to eat tonight.

Dinner goes from being a couple-of-times-a-week thing to a pretty-much-every-night-they’re-in-Pittsburgh thing. When they’re not away on a road trip, Sid picks Geno up for dinner and they hang out and eat and talk, and then Sid drops Geno off again and they repeat the same thing again the next day.

“Maybe next season...get house,” Geno tells Sid over pasta at their favourite restaurant, and Sid smiles.

“Yeah? You want to buy one?”

Geno nods. “Want...dog. Need house for dog.”

“That sounds nice,” Sid says. “A house and a dog. Are you gonna invite me for dinner at your house so I can see your dog?”

Geno laughs. “Maybe,” he says, then pauses, sorting the words carefully in his head. “You...want house, too?”

Sid makes a face and shrugs. “I mean, yeah? I guess. Eventually. But I don’t like being by myself all the time. I think I’m gonna wait until -” He looks down at his plate, and his cheeks are a little red when he looks back up at Geno. “Until I meet someone.”

Geno wants to offer Sid to just move in with him next season, but he knows what Sid means with “meeting someone,” and even if Geno maybe wouldn’t mind being that someone, he knows that’s not really an option. “Until girlfriend?” he asks.

Sid’s face falls a little, but he nods his head. “I guess,” he says, and Geno smiles and nudges Sid’s foot with his own under the table.

“You meet soon,” he says, because he wants to cheer Sid up. “You best. Everybody want. I know.”

Sid doesn’t look convinced, and there’s something a little sad around his eyes through the rest of dinner. 

But the next day at the rink he pats Geno on the shoulder just as usual and his smile is back and Geno stops worrying so much about maybe having said something wrong.

Sid being out with a sprained ankle is hard, not just because Geno misses him like crazy, but also because he worries about him. He knows Sid must miss playing hockey and being around the guys. And being injured is never fun.

He wishes he could still hang out with Sid, but of course Sid can’t drive them to dinner with a sprained ankle and Geno doesn’t really feel brave or confident enough yet to just stop by the Lemieux’s house and ask to see Sid.

It takes him a week to finally gather his nerves, and even then he goes over the words a hundred times in his head on his way over on an off day.

“Hello,” he says, as a kid — Stephanie — opens the door. “Can I visit Sid?”

She shrugs and waves him inside. “Sure,” she says. “He’s upstairs. I’ll show you.”

“Thank you,” he says carefully, and follows her. He’s relieved, because that was a lot easier than he’d feared, but he still hopes this is okay. Maybe he should have asked Sid first if he wanted visitors at all.

She knocks on a door and Geno hears Sid’s voice calling out “come in!” and his treacherous heart is already speeding up, excitement over seeing Sid making him feel fluttery and a little nervous.

Sid is sitting on a couch in what looks to be the guest suite he’s occupied as his home. He has his foot propped up on the coffee table and there’s a hockey game on. He turns down the sound of the TV, then switches it off completely when he looks up and sees Geno.

“Hey,” he says, and Geno doesn’t think he’s imagining the happy surprise in Sid’s voice. “Geno! What are you doing here?”

Geno hears the door click shut again and they’re alone, and he sits down on the couch next to Sid and grins at him. “Maybe little bit miss you,” he says, and Sid blushes.

“Oh,” he says. “I...missed you, too. I guess.”

Geno wants to take his hand, but instead he gestures at the TV. “Keep watch game, if you want,” he says.

“No, no, we can -” Sid starts, then breaks off. “Uh. What did you want to do?”

Geno thinks about it. Because he didn’t really want anything. He just wanted to be where Sid was. But he doesn’t think he should tell him that. “Nothing,” he settles on. “No hockey today. I think...hang out.”

Sid seems okay with that. “Okay,” he says, and turns the TV back on. “We can watch another game, if you want. This one’s from last night.”

“No, I like,” Geno says, and Sid settles back into the couch and Geno sits as close as he dares, and he feels better..

When he gets ready to leave that evening, Sid looks up at him, unbearably cute with his curling hair and his bare feet on the coffee table and his shorts that have definitely seen better days. “You can come over after practice tomorrow, if you want,” he says. “I’ll even make you dinner.”

Geno frowns. “Not make dinner,” he says. “Not...walk. Not hurt foot.”

Sid laughs. “It’s okay, G,” he says. “I can manage.”

“I come over,” Geno says. “But I cook.”

Sid looks surprised, but in a good way. “You don’t have to,” he says. “But...yeah, either way, just come over and we’ll figure it out then.”

Geno is determined that there won’t be anything to figure out, he will cook and Sid will stay on the couch and rest his ankle. But he doesn’t say so now. He squeezes Sid’s shoulder and smiles, and he’s glad he decided to visit today.

There’s a small kitchenette in Sid’s suite. Maybe he’ll try to make him something nice. Nothing too complicated. He likes cooking well enough, but he doesn’t really have a lot of practice yet. And he wants to make sure Sid likes it.

So their dinner dates continue, even with Sid out injured. Not dates, Geno reminds himself. Just...friend-dates, maybe. 

He appreciates Sid letting him spend so much time at his place — it’s definitely good for his English, if nothing else, and Sid knows he’s not comfortable talking to too many people at once yet. He’s grateful that Sid is putting up with him like this. And he tries to show his appreciation by doing as many little things for him as possible while he’s there. They don’t eat with the Lemieux’s when Geno is over because Sid seems to sense that Geno doesn’t want to, and in return Geno takes it upon himself to be in charge of dinner. He also does the dishes. He gets Sid a hoodie from his bedroom when he’s cold. He gets ice packs for Sid’s foot which Sid insists isn’t even really necessary anymore at this point, but Geno figures it can’t hurt. He just wants to thank Sid for being such a good friend.

It takes a little while, but eventually Sid is back at practice, and then playing games again, and everyone is so glad to have him back, but Geno most of all. He’s grown so fond of all the little things Sid does — from his pregame sandwich to watching his taped sticks like a hawk so nobody can touch them. And he’s struck again by the realisation that Sid has so many rituals and routines that are fixed and unwavering, and yet he gave Geno that last spot in line when they walk out onto the ice to play hockey.

Sid catches Geno looking at him and raises his eyebrows questioningly. Geno shakes his head and smiles at his feet and doesn’t know what his heart is even doing. It’s hard not to love the best person he’s ever met, so he supposes he’s just going to have to get used to the feeling.

“Where are you going?” Sid asks, as Geno is heading in the opposite direction from him after morning skate. “My car is over there.”

Geno looks at him. “Huh?”

“Oh.” Sid’s eyes widen slightly. “Sorry. I just assumed — you wanna come over and have a late lunch?”

“Yes,” Geno says, before he can even stop himself. It’s always going to be yes, yes to everything that Sid is willing to give him, and he’ll be the best friend he knows how to be in exchange.

He’s sitting on Sid’s couch after lunch and he knows he should get going, because there’s a lot of day left yet and he doesn’t want to overstay his welcome. He’s pretty tired after a game last night and then skate this morning, and he knows Sid must be, too.

But when he says so, Sid looks at him, confused. “You don’t have to leave,” he says. “I mean...if you want to go take a nap, yeah. Sorry. Of course. I don’t want to -”

“I’m not need nap,” Geno assures him. “I think maybe you want.”

“I want you to stay,” Sid says, a little too quickly, and his cheeks go red as Geno looks at him. “I mean -”

“I stay,” Geno promises. “If you want, I always stay.”

“You don’t have to,” Sid says. “Sorry. I’m being weird today.”

“Not weird,” Geno says. “I’m want stay.”

“Okay,” Sid says, and his smile is so soft and happy and Geno feels bold enough to ask the question that’s been on his mind for weeks now.

“Sid?”

“Yeah?”

“Why you let me go last?”

Sid rubs his neck and lets out a short laugh. “Oh, uh, I mean…” He clears his throat. “I wanted you to feel welcome here.”

“Yes,” Geno says, “You do many things to make me feel like home.”

Sid shrugs and doesn’t quite look at him as he speaks. “I guess I just kinda like you,” he says. “You know. A lot.”

“Like?” Geno asks, and his voice comes out a little hoarse.

“Sorry,” Sid says, and Geno frowns.

“Why sorry?”

Sid finally meets his eyes, studies his face carefully, and whatever he sees there must reassure him.

Geno sits very still as Sid leans forward, resting one hand gently on Geno’s thigh. Sid shifts closer another few inches and Geno covers Sid’s hand with his own and meets him halfway, pressing their lips together in a kiss that’s so soft, so sweet it makes his heart jump in his chest, his breath stuttering as he pulls back.

Sid keeps his eyes closed for a long second before he flickers them open, and the look on his face is half stunned, half deliriously happy. The smile that spreads across his face is Geno’s favourite, a little crooked, eyes squinting almost all the way closed.

“I guess I’m not sorry, then,” Sid says.

“Then kiss again,” Geno demands, grinning.

Sid laughs and complies. Geno wraps his arms around him and holds him close. This is so much more than he hoped for. And with Sid, he has a feeling it’s going to get even better yet.


End file.
